 Hello, my name is Christopher Peacock. I'd like to welcome you to our series Supporting Administrators in French Immersion and introduce you to topic 6, Supporting Students. Topics 6 will provide you with information on supporting students and helping them be successful in your French Immersion program. For further information, consult the Handbook for French Immersion Administrators 2010. Chapter 5, section C, a program for all students, page 48, and chapter 8, sections A through M, pages 83 to 87. At the first sign of difficulty, some parents want to pull their child out of the program. As the school administrator, you need to be aware of this and be ready to explain to the parent what supports you can and will put in place for their child. Possible supports could include testing and results and educational psychologist recommendations, classroom adaptations, specialist interventions such as speech and language, behavioral, mental health, etc. And parents need to be supported through this as well. They need frequent contact with the classroom teacher and the specialist that work with your child. They need to hear about the successes and the challenges their child is facing. They need to be provided with ways in which they can support their child at home. You can refer to resources such as l'inclusion en Immersion, available at the link above, shorter leaflets such as what the school administrators need to know about the inclusion of students with diverse needs in French Immersion schools, diversity in French Immersion, or a diversity in French Immersion classrooms, a quick inclusion guide for teachers. Students with special needs can be successful in the French Immersion program when the necessary support systems are available and in place. Those support systems are no different than what you would provide for a student in the regular English program. Students who are gifted may benefit from the additional challenge that French Immersion education presents, but they will also need additional support. Consider offering some type of enrichment program for gifted students in your school. But please note that French Immersion in itself is not an enrichment program. IPPs and differentiated instruction can also benefit gifted students. Please note that in any program differentiated instruction is often required in order to best meet the needs of students. A student might be counseled out of a French Immersion program if he or she demonstrates significant delays or disorders in their first language. One of the first questions that needs to be asked when a parent wonders if they should register their child in the French Immersion program is, how well is your child learning their first language? Students with significant hearing impairments could be counseled out of a French Immersion program unless the impairments can be rectified by adjusting the educational environment, for example the installation of an amplification system or other equipment. For more information on these delays, disorders, and or impairments in French Immersion, visit the CPF Alberta website by selecting the tabs for parents and then learning difficulties in French Immersion. There are times when a student from a French Immersion transfers into an English program. The decision to move a student out of French Immersion to another program should not be done hastily, but rather after careful consideration of all factors and with the student's best interests in mind. Leslie Wade Woolley from Queens University has good research on the timing of transfer to an English Oluanese program. Essentially, if parents in school administration agree that the student should transfer, the timing and follow up and transition plan are very important. For example, transferring before a student begins to take English language arts, typically in grade three or four, could be extremely difficult for the student and result in delays with reading. Consideration should be given to what the student wants and transfer should not be automatic as soon as the student is experiencing some difficulty. You can consult dual language development and disorders by Joanne Paradis, Fred Genese and Martha Cargo from 2011, available at Education Resources Information Centre. You can also see langlitlab.ca and you can seek Alberta Education's resource, Building on Success. The decision to transfer a student to an English program should be made by a group of people rather than one individual. Ideally, the learning team would include the parent or and when appropriate the student, the student's teacher, school counselor and the school administrator. Psychologists and other specialists are a good resource for identifying student needs, but placement decisions should be made by all members of the learning team. Parents who see their child struggling in the French immersion program sometimes feel that their child will automatically do better in the English program. Parents need to know that learning disorders are not language specific and learning difficulties are not cured by switching programs. Administrators of dual track schools need to be prepared for the following reality. English program teachers may resent receiving a child from the French immersion program and react by saying that the students with difficulties are being dumped into the English program. Transferring a student to the English only program should be the last option to explore. This is a grade two French immersion class doing a project on farm animals. In an ideal classroom setting, students will demonstrate security. Students know that their learning environment is safe. Confidence. Children will feel confident in their attempts to express themselves. Meaningful communication. Students actively participate in authentic language rich activities meaningful to them. Priority is given to the message and not the form and French immersion teachers provide many opportunities for students to communicate. Interest. The subject matter, activity and lesson appears to be of interest to the learners and keeps them engaged. Interaction. The classroom is arranged in such a way that students can easily interact with each other and with their teacher. The physical setting of the classroom allows for spontaneous interaction and authentic communication. Exposure. French immersion students are exposed to a rich linguistic environment including the library of French books, a variety of French videos and CDs, French posters and visuals, access to French websites, French songs, opportunities for dramatizations, etc. And modeling. Last but not least, the teacher is the linguistic model for the students. What is DELF and DALF? DELF, Diplôme d'études en langue française and DELF, Diplôme approfondie de langue française are official qualifications awarded by France's French Ministry of Education to certify the competency of candidates from outside France in the French language. DELF and DALF are composed of six independent diplomas that correspond to the levels of common European framework of reference for languages. The DELF and DALF qualifications are consistent with international standards for test development and the common European framework of reference for languages. At each level, four skills are evaluated, listening, speaking, reading and writing. Offered in over 1000 examination centers throughout 161 countries, candidates receive a rating on the scale of language proficiency of the common European framework of reference for languages. DELF Scholar is a French language proficiency exam that is suitable for students studying French in schools. Exams are written in schools in late fall and in April each year. External candidates can take DELF and DALF exams at the languages center in Woodcroft through Edmonton Public Schools. Other test centers in Alberta include www.afcalgary.ca slash evaluation. In response to the growing interest in DELF throughout the country and the desire to answer frequently asked questions by French second language teachers and administrators, the Canadian Association of Immersion teachers has produced a document. This PowerPoint is presented due to topic six with its insights on supporting students studying in a French immersion program. This topic is one of eight in total in the series support for administrators of French immersion programs. For further information on supporting students and helping them be successful in a French immersion program, consult Alberta Education's Handbook for French Immersion Administrators 2010 version on specifically Chapter 5, Section C, a program for all students, page 48, and Chapter 8, Sections 8 to M, pages 83 to 87.